This invention relates to filtration and, more particularly, to the removal of submicron contaminants from aqueous systems, utilizing filter media sheet comprising high levels of particulate filter aids.
The filtration of fine particle size contaminants from fluids has been accomplished by the use of various porous filter media through which the contaminated fluid is passed. To function as a filter, the media must allow the fluid, commonly water, through, while holding back the particulate contaminant. This holding back of the contaminant is accomplished by virtue of the operation, within the porous media, of one or both of two distinctly different filtration mechanisms, namely (1) mechanical straining and (2) electrokinetic particle capture. In mechanical straining, a particle is removed by physical entrapment when it attempts to pass through a pore smaller than itself. In the case of the electrokinetic capture mechanisms, the particle collides with a surface face within the porous filter media and is retained on the surface by short range attractive forces.
With the expansion of microporous polymeric membranes, the porous filter media known to the art as being suitable for the filtration of fine particle size contaminants are comprised of fiber-fiber or fiber-particulate mixtures formed dynamically into sheet by vacuum felting from an aqueous slurry and then subsequently drying the finished sheet. In those fibrous filter media that depend upon mechanical straining to hold back particulate contaminants, it is necessary that the pore size of the filter medium be smaller than the particle size of the contaminant to be removed from the fluid. For removal of fine, submicronic contaminant particles by mechanical straining, the filter media need have correspondingly fine pores. Since the pore size of such a sheet is determined predominantly by the size and morphology of the materials used to form the sheet, it is necessary that one or more of the component materials be of a very small size, such as small diameter fibers. See, for example, any of Pall U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,158,532; 3,238,056; 3,246,767; 3,353,682 or 3,573,158.
As the size of the contaminants sought to be removed by filtration decreases, especially into the submicron range, the difficulty and expense of providing suitably dimensioned fiber structures for optimum filtration by mechanical straining increases. Accordingly, there is considerable interest in the use of fine particulates such as diatomaceous earth.
However, for such materials it is necessary to provide a matrix in order to present a coherent handleable structure for commerce and industry. Thus, at least one of the component materials in the sheet is a long, self-bonding structural fiber, to give the sheet sufficient structural integrity in both the wet "as formed" and in the final dried condition, to allow handling during processing and suitability for the intended end use. Unrefined cellulose fibers such as wood pulp, cotton, cellulose acetate or rayon are commonly used. These fibers are typically relatively large, with commercially available diameters in the range of six to sixty micrometers. Wood pulp, most often used because of its low relative cost, has fiber diameters ranging from fifteen to twenty-five micrometers, and fiber lengths of about 0.85 to about 6.5 mm.
Filter media sheets are conveniently formed by vacuum felting from an aqueous slurry of the component material. The vacuum felting is performed on a foraminous surface, normally a woven wire mesh which, in practice, may vary from 50 mesh to 200 mesh, with mesh openings ranging from 280 micrometers to 70 micrometers respectively. Finer meshes are unsuitable because of clogging problems and/or structural inadequacy.
The size of the openings in the foraminous vacuum felting surface, and the pore size of the cellulose fiber matrix of the formed sheet, are quite large in comparison to some or all of the dimensions of the fine fiber or particulate components required to produce the desired submicronic filter media sheet. Retention of such fine components during the vacuum formation of the filter media sheet is difficult, and imposes severe constraints on the choice of such materials, the specific details of the process utilized to form the filter media sheet, and, most important, upon the level of filtration performance that may be attained. Fine fibers, whose length may be large in comparison to their diameter, present less of a problem and tend to be retained reasonably well. Fine particulates, on the other hand, tend to show very poor retention during sheet formation.
Flocculation with polymeric retention aids, or coagulation has been used as a means of improving retention of fine particulates, in effecting the grouping of particles to offer an effective large dimension. However, filter sheet prepared from a well-flocculated slurry will have a broad particle size distribution, with small pores occurring inside the flocs, and large pores occurring between the flocs. The existence of these larger pores will limit the ability of the filter media sheet to remove fine contaminants. The use of flocculation to achieve high retention in filter media is therefore somewhat counterproductive.
It is, of course, possible to apply hydrodynamic shear forces, breaking up the flocs, and further charge modify until the system assumes a stable disperse form. This does achieve a relatively uniform sheet of narrow pore size distribution. However, the retention of the particulates in such a system is very low, leading to concomitant reduction of filtration efficiency.
In addition to controlling the dispersion characteristics (and therefore the porosity of the sheet) and providing wet strength, charge modifiers are employed to control the zeta potential of the sheet constituents and maximize performance in the electrokinetic capture of small charged contaminants. In practice, cationic charge modifiers are employed since most naturally occurring contaminant surfaces are anionic at fluid pH of practical interest. Thus, a melamine-formaldehyde cationic colloid is disclosed for filter sheets in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,007,113 and 4,007,114.
The use of such filter systems with biological fluids poses special problems, among them the possibility of introducing to the fluid impurities resulting from loss of or a breakdown in filter elements. While certain levels of particular impurities may be tolerable in some systems, organic extractables pose especially sensitive problems in the filtration of foods and pharmaceutical products. in filter systems composed of cellulose fiber as a matrix for particulate filter aids modified with an organic cationic resin, organic extractables are naturally primarily traceable to the resin. Selection of the charge modifying resin can alleviate the problem, even under relatively stringest conditions of use including sanitization and sterilizable procedures. Even in the absence of meaningful levels of extractables, however, many resins of choice are subject to discoloration in use, tending to limit their marketability for food and drugs.
Further, even low levels of certain organic extractables are unacceptable in some systems, and accordingly it is desirable for this reason and that of aesthetics to wholly remove the organic charge modifier resin from the filter construction. At the same time, it is necessary for the removal of submicron negatively charged contaminants to retain the positive charge potential afforded by a charge modifying resin.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide charge modified filter media sheets of enhanced filtration performance, especially for the removal of submicron contaminants from aqueous systems at high efficiency.
Another object is to provide charge modified filter media characterized by low organic extractables over a wide range of filtration conditions.
A still further object is the provision of filter media effective across the spectrum of biological liquids and, particularly, ingestables such as foods and drugs.
These and other objects are achieved in the practice of the present invention as described hereinafter.